Understanding
by TheLeftover
Summary: Post HBP- She doesn't understand why he left her, or maybe she doesn't really want to.
1. Chapter 1

**Author'snote: Originally intended for this to be a one- shot, then it got way too long to be a one-shot. At most there ought to be three chapters. This story is also dedicated to my cousin, Diya, and her husband(feels weird to say that) Subhadeep(Did I spell it right? I hope I did:P). As your wedding present- remember way back in March when you demanded I write a romantic story? This is the product, hopefully you love it. And I know this "wedding present" is way, way overdue, but the only excuse I can give is exams and way too much homework, and just plain stress.**

**Here's hoping you like it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. All rights go to JK Rowling.**

Harry didn't particularly want a lot of things in his life- normal things, obviously. Potion essays, for one. Blast- Ended Skrewts. Voldemort. His parents', godfather's and now his mentor's deaths. The stupid prophecy.

Another thing he desperately wished didn't have to occur was having to break up with Ginny.

He never did want to break up with her. He had realized he loved her from the moment he had kissed her in the Gryffindor common room. He had never confessed what he really felt, however. And now he would never get the chance to do so due to the fact that he had very possibly screwed it up like the idiot he was.

He knew why he had to break up with her. To keep her safe, at all costs. If there was the slightest, merest chance of Ginny being in much less danger than she was at the moment, he would grab at it like a drowning man grabbing at a hand come to save him. Even if it meant hurting both of them in the process.

He told himself he was being an overprotective caveman, but not even Merlin could hide the truth that if Ginny was to be captured, the war would be lost.

Therefore, when he broke up with her, despite the inner turmoil and that stupid inner voice yelling, "You're just gonna let her _go_?", he told himself he was doing the right thing.

And now, standing on the porch of the burrow with hands buried deep in his jean pockets, Mad- Eye standing next to him and his trunk with Hedwig perched on top on his other side, he wondered not about Horcruxes or his twinging scar or what Voldemort was doing at the moment but rather about Ginny. There were two possibilities, he decided. One of them was Ginny accepting that he needed to do this. The other was Ginny being so impossibly mad at him that she would hate him for life.

He gave a loud sigh. Maybe if women like Ginny didn't exist, his life would have a lot less hassle.

Mrs Weasley opened the door then, with a bright smile, ushering them in. Dragging his trunk in, Harry felt his spirits lift slightly, the way they always did whenever he entered the Burrow. His spirits fell again, though, when his sharp eyes- despite the glasses- noticed the presence of gray strands in Mrs Weasley's hair, the dark circles under his eyes, and all the arrows on the clock pointing towards mortal peril. Not even the homely ambience of the Burrow could disguise the fact that they were at war.

He looked past Mrs Weasley, and went weak in the knees. Ginny Weasley was staring at him with her beautiful brown eyes. Had she always been this stunning? She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

He opened his mouth as well, with a little more success. "Hey-"

Ginny shoved brutally past him, her shoulder banging painfully into his chest. He winced, as she ran in the direction of the stairs and disappeared up them.

He could hear Mad- Eye sniggering.

He sighed. Definitely hating him for life, then.

**HG**

Ginny didn't want to see Harry Potter.

When his name cropped up- and it did, very often- all she could feel was the irrational anger rising up inside of her like a volcano. She couldn't stand to talk about him- she would excuse herself whenever she would hear the name pop up. Ron very patronizingly told her to stop acting like a child and focus on why he had dumped her- on Dumbledore's funeral, no less. She had responded with a rude hand gesture.

She couldn't forget the way he had held her heart in his fist and then crushed it. They had dated, kissed in broom cupboards, classrooms, abandoned corridors- but apparently the time they spent together meant absolutely nothing, because after it all, he had humiliatingly dumped her. On a funeral.

She supposed he didn't care. She supposed he thought she was only his best friend's kid sister, and just a passing fling. She told herself she didn't give a damn. She wouldn't bat an eyelid even if he took it up with Fleur's stupid little sister.

She also told herself she would try her best to pretend that he didn't exist, to dull the pain. Nothing hurt more than the realization that he harboured no feelings whatsoever for her. Even when she loved him with all her heart. He had taken her feelings and just shoved it into her face.

That day, she had finished setting the table, when Harry entered the room. Looking into his green eyes, she almost forgot her resolve. But when he gave her a small smile and started to speak- perhaps pretend nothing ever happened between them- she made sure to bang into him and escaped into the safety of her room.

She told herself she hated Harry Potter, and she would show him exactly how much. He deserved that much.

**HG**

Two days into his stay, and Harry had to run out to the backyard to gather his thoughts.

Mrs Weasley did not approve of the mission to destroy horcruxes. She had already held several meetings with Harry, Ron and Hermione to try and persuade them to hand over the mission to the Order. None of the meetings had succeeded, and now she did her best to prolong the inevitable escape by setting them different tasks for the wedding.

The wedding. It was for Bill and Fleur and they were to get married exactly a month later. Harry had decided that he could try and find horcruxes during this long, one- month stay, because there was no way he could lie on his back for one month. The problem was leaving to find them, as he had no idea exactly how and where to do so.

Sitting underneath a tree, he rubbed his scar. It was again prickling painfully. Voldemort was on the move. He had finally, however, mastered Occlumency, and had decided to shut him out. His problem now was not where Voldemort was, but where the horcruxes were.

And then there was Ginny. Who was ignoring him, and was acting as though any room that held him had an incurable pest infestation. She would never look at him, and the few times he did catch her eyes, she would glare at him so fiercely that he would flush and look down at his feet. And every now and then she would drop a disparaging comment that would make his stomach squirm uncomfortably and his cheeks flush.

He didn't know why she was acting like this- like a child who didn't get her way. He had explained to her why he had felt the need to dump her. It was clear that they needed to talk, but they couldn't do so with Ginny ignoring him like that.

He ran his hand through his hair, feeling as though he would explode. Why did all this have to be difficult?

Using the support of the tree, he stood up. The first thing he would do when he finally re- entered the burrow, was to make a list of all the places that potentially held a horcrux. Then he would visit those places, one by one, with someone at his side- Ron or Hermione. As for Ginny, well- he let out a breath. He would deal with it when it became too pressing to ignore.

**HG**

When Ginny made her way down for breakfast, she noticed Harry, of all people, arguing with her mother.

"Its dangerous!" Her mother exclaimed. "Harry, I absolutely forbid-"

"I have to do it, no matter the amount of danger," Harry cut her off, sounding weary and self- sacrificial. "Look, I would go alone-"

"Definitely _not," _ she could hear her brother snarl. "I am coming with you-"

"Its too dangerous, for the both of you! Why on earth do you have to-"

Ginny made her entrance then.

"They have to, mum," she sneered, "because he does not care what anyone thinks as long as he gets it done. In the meantime, he does not give a damn whether anyone gets hurt."

There was a terrible silence after she said that, and she saw Harry go white. She must have struck a nerve. She felt a sadistic sort of glee.

Ron looked so furious his ears were turning scarlet. Harry turned away but not before she saw thousand of emotions running through his eyes. Her mother looked very angry.

"Ginny," she said quietly, "come and eat your breakfast, but not before you apologise to Harry for that astonishing lack of tact that is usually seen in your brothers."

She set her jaw in a defiant line. "No," she spat out, "he deserved it." And then she ran out to the garden and leaned against the shed, breathing rapidly.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Harry and Ron walk out and quietly disapparate out of the boundaries of the Burrow.

**HG**

"Mum is gonna be so mad," Ron moaned. Harry now clutched a nondescript backpack which carefully held one of the horcruxes- Hufflepuff's cup.

They had finally gotten the horcrux but at a price. Ron was bleeding from a gash in his shoulder and Harry felt a burning, throbbing pain in his left knee whenever he put too much weight in it. When they had reached the cup, they had to fight their way through numerous defenses and the end result was not pretty.

Harry stayed silent, trying to avoid and ignore the distinctly cold vibes he was getting from the backpack.

"So would my sister."

Harry couldn't help himself.

"She is already mad. At me, that is." He shifted the backpack, feeling as though the backpack weighed a ton.

"No, she isn't. She is just being a prat," Ron shrugged. "Weasleys are entitled to being a prat once in a while, and she was long overdue."

Harry felt more uneasy despite Ron siding with him. "Its my fault though- "

"_No,_ it isn't." Ron glared at Harry. "Look, I totally understand why you- dumped her. And broke her heart. And I get it, I really do. If I had the chance, I would try to keep Hermione out of the war-"

He stopped and turned pink. Then he added in a sulking voice, "Then again, if I even suggested the mere possibility of keeping her out, she would probably hex me till I can't breathe. That woman is scary."

Harry sniggered, and Ron shoved him on the shoulder half- heartedly. "Ginny is going to come around and understand why you really did it. Just you wait."

Harry very seriously doubted this, as Ron pushed the door of the Burrow open and yelled that they were back.

**HG**

Ginny's dinner was rudely interrupted when Hermione, and her mother rushed to attend to Ron and Harry.

Ron had his shoulder wrapped up securely and was talking to Hermione in low tones. Mrs Weasley was attending to Harry's knee.

"You twisted your knee, Harry. It's a wonder you were even able to walk back."

"You can fix it, though?"

"I am a mother of seven children, Harry- I most certainly know how to."

As Mrs Weasley tapped his knee with her wand she asked softly, "How did you twist your knee, Harry?"

Harry squirmed in his seat. "Er, I can't tell you- I am so sorry-"

"And exactly why can't you tell me why my brother came home with a bleeding shoulder?" Ginny found herself asking, giving him a blazing glare. "Does ickle Harry Potter not think that his own family cannot handle the truth, must he keep every bloody thing about what he does a secret, can he not stop thinking that the world revolves purely around him for at least one second-"

"Ginevra!" Her mother gave her exactly the same kind of blazing glare that she gave Harry. "Wait. In the kitchen. I will be with you in a minute."

She stormed off, ignoring Harry's stricken eyes, and banged the kitchen door shut behind her, seething at the impeccably clean plates. Her mother came , shutting the door behind her.

"That is quite enough, Ginny. When will you stop acting like a child?"

She didn't know. All she knew was that she had to act like a child now to curb her temper and keep herself sane.

"You are making his stay here feel like as though he is staying at Malfoy Manor! I have never felt more disappointed in you-"

"Its all his fault!" she retorted hotly. "If he didn't-"

"I have no interest in knowing what went on between the two of you to make you act like this," her mother said coldly. "What I want is for you to keep in mind that he has suffered more than most, and therefore, think before you feel the need to act like a five- year- old who didn't get her toys."

Ginny shut her mouth, her cheeks turning crimson.

Her mother left the kitchen, leaving her to stand alone on the cold tiles, feeling appropriately rebuked.


	2. Chapter 2

The day after he got the horcrux, Harry went down for breakfast.

Everything was normal. Ron was stuffing himself, Hermione was buried in an Ancient Runes book, Mr Weasley was engaging him in a conversation about the functions of an oven, and Ginny was ignoring him as usual- he thought with a pang. Bill and Fleur were both sending each other lovey dovey smiles and he resisted the urge to snicker.

As he morosely stuffed a piece of bacon in his mouth, he felt a cold wave wash over him. He could feel the blood drain from himself, as he suddenly felt uneasy and uncertain, as though someone was watching him.

He sat up straight, looking at Mr Weasley in fright. "The wards," he said frantically. "They- they are down."

As he said this he could hear voices shrieking "MOSMORDRE!" and knew the worst had come to happen.

Mr Weasley jumped up, and sent a patronus- no doubt to the Order. "There is only seven of us," he said frantically. "How-"

The window shattered, and Fleur screamed. Harry took out his wand. He looked at Hermione and she gave him a nod. The horcrux was with her, the horcrux was safe. He closed his eyes and wished this wasn't happening.

He met Bill's eyes. They were a grim, steely blue. He swallowed, and finally choked out, "We would have to go out and fight." He finally said. Steeling his resolve, he went out, pushing his way through the door, not caring if the Weasleys were behind him.

They were outnumbered seven to ten. Apparently the Death Eaters had known of the small number currently residing inside the Burrow.

Bellatrix Lestrange was among them, he noticed with dread- and hatred. Sheer hatred. She sneered at him. "How is little baby Potter doing, now that my good- for- nothing cousin is out of the way?"

Was there any wonder why he hated her? He snarled, "Better now that I am about to kill you," and then the fight really started.

Curses flew, wands cut through the air, wizards and witches alike dodged and screamed curses. Harry could clearly see Mr Weasley dueling two death eaters at once- and winning, by the looks of it. He dodged another killing curse sent by Bellatrix, heart frantically ricocheting against his battered ribcage, and sent a cutting curse, that he was pleased to see slash her arm quite deep.

She gasped, and the look of shock was evident on her face. Apparently she had expected Harry to have little experience when it came to dueling. Apparently, Harry thought savagely, she had not known that Harry had actually been practicing dueling over at the Dursleys' before he came to the Burrow.

The look of shock was quickly converted to a look of fury, and she sent a Cruciatus curse that Harry was able to barely dodge. Dodging the bludgers during Quidditch had actually been useful. He sent another curse, and couldn't believe it when it hit her in the torso, making her stumble and fall.

She got up much quicker than he would have though, and it was very clear she was quite pissed. Harry was beginning to feel the strain, as she sent curse after curse. One caught him in the arm, and he winced at the painful sting. Where were the Order members? They were supposed to be here by now, weren't they?

"Your precious Order of the Phoenix, and all the Aurors would not come," Bellatrix snarled, and Harry blinked, wondering if she could practice Legilimency. "They are quite preoccupied with another attack elsewhere." That explained the reason why there were only ten death eaters.

Harry felt a stone sink in his stomach. He felt world- weary, as though he carried the world on his shoulders. There was no help coming. There was no hope. They were on their own. Outnumbered, nowhere to run.

"Contrary to popular belief, the world does not simply revolve around you, Potter."

Harry blinked. That was exactly what Ginny had said to him yesterday in an angry tirade-

He was hit by the cruciatus in the stomach. White- hot knives twisting and carving into every inch of his skin- pain like he had never experienced it before-

He bit his lip, and forced his trembling muscles to slow down. He would not give them the satisfaction-

"_Expelliarmus!"_

In his pain, he had forgotten all about Ginny. The pain came to a blessed stop and he lay gasping on the floor.

"Don't you _dare_," he heard her say in a voice wavering with anger, "hurt him again."

He never thought he could feel so warm at the sound of her clearly enraged voice.

He felt a cool, small hand lift his fringe. "Harry," she said in a voice so distraught, "Can you- can you stand up?"

He opened his eyes and looked at her brown eyes and face framed by fiery red. "I think so," he murmured, and hoisted himself up on his shaking arms. With some help he could stand again. Leaning heavily on Ginny- the cruciatus had really did him in- he looked at her. "How…"

"I heard her scream, and I knew."

They looked at each other, and Harry found the tension from the last few weeks slip away like water. He looked into her eyes, and found himself wanting to brush away her fringe and locks of hair and kiss her like he used to when he was sixteen and she was fifteen. There was something in her eyes, something other than fear from the battle and Harry thought he knew what it was.

Moments never last, and that one didn't. He looked up suddenly, feeling a prickling in his neck, and found Bellatrix standing up and swaying like a lunatic, a mad person, and an ice cube slid down his spine. She had found her wand after Ginny had blasted it away, and she was pointing it at the back of an unsuspecting Ginny who was still looking at him as though he was the world, looking beautiful as she did so.

He did promise himself if Ginny ever got hurt, the battle would be lost.

He whirled Ginny around, as several cracks resounded- Order members arriving- and Bellatrix yelled "_Sectumsempra!" _ and he felt a hot, fiery pain slice through his back, and heard Ginny scream his name.

He sagged in Ginny's arms. He saw horrified brown, then a silent, eerie black.

**HG**

Ginny had never been more scared in her life than when she saw Harry writhing on the floor, biting his lip to stop his screams as Bellatrix cackled above him. When she had heard Bellatrix scream the curse, she knew.

She had disarmed the death eater, and Harry had stood up shakily, supported in her arms. He had looked at her and she had looked at him, and she knew she could never hate him, that no matter what he did to her, she would always love him.

That otherworldly moment ended when Bellatrix had screamed the spell, and Harry had taken the spell, grunting softly as she felt the cool, sticky texture of blood in her hands, oozing from his back. Bellatrix disapparated as the Order members arrived. She could hear the death eaters disapparate and her dad yell, "_Where were you?"_

She slid to the ground, and saw Harry's shut eyelids, his pale cheeks and his eyelashes making a shadow on his thin cheeks. She was in limbo- she couldn't really hear or feel anything. She could feel Harry's skin, though- pale, clammy, cold. She peered at him- he looked dead. In painstaking slowness, she slid her fingers down to his neck.

A faint, steady pulse.

She straightened up. That was all it took for her to snap out of her limbo. Holding Harry close to her, she raised his head and yelled with all her might, "Harry's hurt!" She could feel cold horror seeping into her bones and the ache of her throat when she screamed his name, when he got hit.

She whispered his name. "Harry…"

He didn't stir. He didn't move. Not even an inch.

She could feel hands pulling her up. Harry couldn't be dead. She loved him. She still had yet to tell him so.

"Ginny, get up, come one- mum would take care of him inside-" She blindly pushed at the hands trying to lead her away from her Harry, lying on the floor like that, surrounded by blood.

"No, he needs me here, I won't leave him." After a few seconds of protesting she slumped and let herself be led away. Through tearful eyes she watched Remus Lupin levitate Harry and walk briskly into the house. Tearing herself away from Ron, who yelled "No, wait, _Ginny, come back here!" _ she ran headfirst into the Burrow, into the room. Looking frantically around the room, she saw no one. They must be up in one of her brothers' room.

She took two steps at a time, ignoring the searing stitch in her side, and glanced to her left. The door was ajar, and she burst into it.

Harry was lying down on the bed, his blood staining the pale white sheets, and Mum was leafing through a healing book in a frenzied manner, while Remus Lupin cast a number of spells- trying to stabilize him, to keep him from dying, with no luck.

Harry was dying.

Ginny stared open- mouthed at both her mother and Professor Lupin. Lupin stared at her. "Ginny, what are you doing?" He finally said in a hoarse voice. "Go down, the rest of the Order will meet you there-"

"Ginny, you cannot stay here," her mother said distractedly. "We are quite busy at the moment, we cannot attend to you-"

Harry's chest barely rose and fell with each shuddering breath.

She sucked in a deep breath. "I want to stay. I want to help. He _needs_ me here."

Although it wasn't so much him needing here as her needing him close by, because why on earth would he, even in an unconscious state, want her close by given her treatment of him in the last few days?

Her mother looked up and stared at her. Mother and daughter shared a moment of understanding, of realization.

"Fine." Then her mother exclaimed out loud. "Remus, I've got the spell- Ginny, get those bandages for me, will you-"

She gladly went- anything to distract herself from the terrible fear and guilt weighing down on her like a massive boulder.

**Author's note: The second chapter. Please review!:)**


	3. Chapter 3

Three days.

Three days, and a certain black- haired, green- eyed someone was still in Percy's room, still out cold, still oblivious to the world.

Ginny felt like screaming. Her mother had promised her that he would be quite alright. That he would wake. However, three days had gone by, and even the infallible Molly Weasley was getting quite worried.

Mostly, Ginny was occupied by her morbid thoughts and nightmares of what would happen if Harry happened to die. And at least five times every hour, she would be reminded of her horrible treatment of Harry, and the fact that despite her treating him like something disgusting, he had still taken a very dangerous curse for her.

When he did wake up, she planned to first apologise to him. She had finally realized that it was no use pretending to hate Harry Potter- she would love him anyway. And then, even if he did not accept her apology, she planned to scream at him for being a noble prat and taking a curse for her.

But first he needed to wake up.

She also spent every moment possible being near him. She had not slept in a bed for three days. Her neck ached from sleeping in a chair. Every one of her brothers and Hermione had tried to persuade her to sleep in a bed, but they had finally relented when she hexed Ron with flying bat bogies.

Very little colour had returned to Harry's cheeks, after that horrible moment when he got hit by the curse, despite her mother reassuring her that he was okay, and on the road to recovery. They had to turn him on his side and when one walked around to the right side of the bed, they would see a long scar stretching along his bare back.

Because, after all, they had to remove his shirt, she thought with a blush. It wasn't as if she had never seen him without his shirt off. She had seen him plenty of times with his shirt off, mostly in dark corners of the school-

She could now feel herself turning crimson.

She was seated at the left side of the bed, staring at Harry's pale face. Ginny peered more closely at his face. He did look very vulnerable, lying on his side, black hair in stark contrast with the white pillow. Like a little kid. He was definitely not a little kid, though, the way she had seen him shoot curses and battle with Bellatrix Lestrange like some sort of avenging angel.

She shot up straight in her chair when he stirred. Her heart thudded as his eyes fluttered and opened, exposing two irises of green.

**HG**

The first thing Harry noticed was that his back felt as though Hagrid was playing the bongos on it. Surprisingly, his head remained clear.

The second thing Harry noticed was that his stomach was at war, and he might hurl soon.

The third thing he noticed was a sweet, flowery smell that overpowered his senses- it seemed to calm his stomach.

He opened his eyes blearily, wondering bleakly what the hell was going on, and then his eyes went wide at the sight of a (beautiful) puffy- eyed Ginny.

Only Ginny Weasley could cry and still make herself look like the setting sun.

They stared at each other, and somehow Harry was reminded of the battle. Fighting with Bellatrix, being tortured, holding Ginny in his arms, and then taking the curse for her.

That explained his back, then.

Harry then realized this was the second time Ginny was looking at him like he was all she could see, and not like he was Malfoy, or someone she hated.

He realized his throat felt dry. "Ginny-"

His dry, cracked and hoarse voice jolted Ginny out of the trance she was apparently in, and she leapt up from her chair. "You need water! I am so sorry, I didn't realize…"

She filled a glass with water and gave it to Harry, who sat up trying to ignore his throbbing back and gratefully sipping at the water, regarding Ginny with barely veiled amusement as she babbled, "I am so sorry, I didn't realize you needed water, I am the biggest idiot in the world, Hermione is much better than me at this-"

He set the glass down and told Ginny gently, "Its only water."

"But you could have died!" Ginny suddenly wailed, clutching her hair in anguish. "You could have fallen into a coma, again, all because I was stupid enough not to give you water, not understanding that you needed the water-"

"Ginny- "

"- and I am such a big prat, because I treated you so horribly like you were a pile of rat dung, and you didn't even say a word, and I am such a big unfeeling brute because I didn't give a damn about your feelings but you clearly gave a damn about my feelings-"

"_Ginny-"_

"- I am the worst person in the world, and I wouldn't blame you if you hated me now for life because I clearly deserved it and this past three days have been the worst days of my entire life and I wouldn't mind if you treated me like- like dung, because I deserve it, but please please don't die because I can't bear it if you died and I have been having nightmares about you dying, _in my arms-"_

Harry's jaw dropped. So she didn't hate him after all! The fact that she was babbling now, and crying, with tears rolling down her face, told him so.

She was now muttering that if he hated her, she would never blame him. He decided there was only one way to make her- well, shut up.

"My scar hurts." He declared in a flat voice. She raised her head from her hands and stared at him. "What- you, your-"

"I was kidding, really. My scar didn't hurt." He raised his voice over her cries of outrage. "Look, I do not blame you for- for-"

"Treating you like you were shit?"

"Well, yeah." He admitted. Then he clenched his fists and looked down on the blanket. "I understand, I guess, that you think I didn't care about you or something."

She looked at him, wide-eyed. "How did you know that?"

He shrugged. "Figured it out from your tirades. But that's not the point- the point is, the point is, I can't bear for you to get hurt. And if we are still together, there is a high chance of you getting hurt. And I don't want that. So, so what I guess I am saying is that I don't want you getting hurt all because I was too selfish to let you go. I- I couldn't bear it- I guess, I care about you too much."

He peeked at her from beneath his eyelids. There was a look of complete bewilderment in her eyes. Her jaw was hanging wide open.

He cringed. And waited for the onslaught.

What he didn't expect, though, was her response.

"Do you fancy yourself as Spiderman?"

**HG**

Ginny looked expectantly at Harry, who looked very shocked, as though he was hit over the head with a hammer.

"What did you say?"

"Well," she cleared her throat, "Spiderman broke up with Mary Jane to protect her. Unlike Ron, I do keep up with Muggle entertainment." She was lying, of course. Hermione had forced her to watch the movie, when she was seething over Harry. She had finally realized why she had shown her the movie.

"No," he said, lips quivering in amusement. She shook herself and tore her gaze away from those lips and stared into his eyes- which wasn't all that better. "Then," she said firmly, "You shouldn't feel the need to jump in front of every single curse meant for me." She took a deep breath. "The feelings you would feel whenever I get hit by a curse are exactly the same feelings I felt when you got hit by that curse three days ago." She shuddered as she remembered begging Harry to awaken, and crying herself to sleep beside his prone form, thinking it was all her fault. "I didn't- I thought it was all my fault." Thos treacherous tears made their presence known again.

She heard Harry gasp softly before she was embraced in a set of thin, but wiry arms. She buried her head in his chest as she heard him say, "Its not your fault. It was never your fault. It was my choice to step in front of that curse."

She raised her blotchy face from his chest and stared up at his wide, earnest eyes. "Then, you should never think that if I ever get hurt, its all your fault."

He looked unconvinced.

Ginny decided to try from a different angle. "I have got my wand, and you are the one incapacitated in a bed. Do I need to convince you further with a few creative spells?"

Harry paled slightly and shook his head vigorously. Then he said grudgingly, "The way you saved me from that cruciatus, I don't think there is any doubt in Voldemort's head that we are together." He peered at her. "Thanks for that, anyway."

She giggled, feeling deliriously happy. "Thanks for stepping in front of a curse for me."

They looked at each other, and it was like that moment, back in the heat of the battle. Only this time, no one would interrupt them, Ginny decided, and she pressed her lips to Harry's, as he fell back on the bed, taking her with him. There was a chorus of birds singing in her head, and the whole experience was otherworldly-

"Hey, Ginny, mum wants to know- OI! PUT YOUR SHIRT BACK ON, POTTER, AND GET AWAY FROM MY SISTER!"

Ginny sighed. She was definitely not counting on her brother to interrupt them, she thought, as her hand inched towards the wand left on the chair.

**HG**

"We are not going to leave?" Ron yelped, dismayed. "Damn, Harry, what brought this on?"

Hermione looked disgruntled. "Not what, Ron. Who."

The three of them were strolling through the backyard. Harry glared at the both of them. "The decision was mine and mine alone. We can stay at the Burrow. We can research, practice spells with Order members, look for horcruxes and come back again-"

"- and you can snog my sister, do not lie, Potter." Ron snorted. "I can still feel the effects of that bat- bogey hex she set on me."

"She doesn't need you to protect her virtue, Ron," Hermione said in a faraway voice.

Ron gaped at her, spluttered, and then fell silent again. Harry tried hard to stop a snigger from escaping, and failed.

Ron glanced at him.

"If I," he threatened, "ever catch you in a bed with my sister, missing articles of clothing, ever again, I can confirm that you shall miss certain anatomical parts of your body-"

"No," Hermione cut him off dryly. "Ginny would try doubly hard to protect those anatomical parts she is so fond of."

Ron and Harry both turned crimson.

After getting over the embarrassment, Ron looked at Harry again. "I approve of both of you, mate. God knows she never left your side those three days."

Harry's interest was piqued. "Really?"

Both Ron and Hermione gave him an exasperated look. "It was pretty obvious."

He turned away to hide his glee and laughter, and set his eyes on Ginny, leaning against the broomshed, his Firebolt slung over her shoulder. A slow smile spread over her face, and he winked at her. She blew him a kiss, and he pretended to swoon, ignoring Ron's faked retching beside him.

Harry didn't particularly want a lot of things in his life- but what he did want was that fiery, red- headed girl leaning against the wooden walls of the broomshed, laughing at his antics gleefully.

**Author's note: My knuckles hurt from typing so fast. Yes, this is the end. As always, please review.**


End file.
